Who is responsible for the debts in a general partnership if the business fails?

This question underlines the requirement to have a partnership agreement - in the absence of any prior agreement to the contrary, the debts are owed jointly and severally by all partners in the business and provided that any one partner has incurred a debt on behalf of the partnership (buying anything which could not possibly be for business use will be excluded) the creditor will be entitled to recover from any one of the partners, including all personal assets where the partnership is not a limited company (or, in US, incorporated). For either jurisdiction, but particularly for the UK, the Partnership Act 1890 is the guiding legislation